The Petch House

ListWise

Monday, October 11, 2010

It is hard to top the Philadelphia City Hall, but the Masonic Temple right across the street comes pretty damn close. Construction started in 1868, with the castle like structure being finished in about 10 years. After that the interior design started and lasted another 30 years. What they accomplished is nothing short of amazing.

The 7 main lodges were each designed in a different style and by a different architect: Renaissance, Ionic, Morrish, Corinthian, Gothic, Egyptian, and Norman. With very few exceptions, everything is rendered in plaster and then painted and grained. Even though many of these styles are most closely associated with religious buildings, and many of the rooms resemble the insides of temples, all religious symbols are conspicuously absent. Masons are a nondenominational organization and so left them out on purpose.

The pictures that follow are eye-popping, but don't come close to giving you the experience of being in the building. Not only is it all plaster but there has never been any interior restoration. In some places you can see the paint chipping from the plaster – it is very minor. The tour guide told me this started when they installed a modern air conditioning system. Prior to that, cooling was done by fans blowing over large blocks of ice. The exterior is granite, I think, and went through a major restoration about a decade ago.

In the Gothic Room, the furniture pre-dates the building. This is all from the original Masonic Hall in Philadelphia, which burned to the ground. The 2 portraits are that of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, noted Masonic brothers. Several of the stained glass windows and ceilings are back-lit because they don't really have access to natural light. Once inside the building you quickly become disoriented as to where you are in the building.

The balusters and newel posts are cast iron. Stairs and floors are marble.

It doesn't show in the picture, but this ceiling is high relief, carved and painted plaster, as is everything, of course. The amount of labor that went in to these rooms is astounding.

9 comments:

I've really been enjoying your posts on Philadelphia. What great architecture. It must feel good to get away from Eureka after all that wonderful work you've been doing at home. BTW, your stairs turned out great.

My personal take on it is that there is no conspiracy of the Freemasons. Rather than the Freemasons trying to gather powerful men to try and rule the world, it is that in history world leaders have been drawn to the Freemasons. It is no different than industry leaders networking at a conferences or the Chamber of Commerce these days.

Frankly, the Freemasons is a fine organization and I wouldn't mind being a brother myself. At the same time, I have no wish for world domination.

If you look at something long enough, you can find conspiracies anywhere. In our area The League of Woman Voters hosts all political debates. Perhaps there is a conspiracy there. Maybe they are trying to sway political opinion by slanting the questions to favor their own political agenda, what ever that may be.